Why don't you ask atleast 5 people, individually, what is the story/ underlying philosophy of the book? I can safely bet you will have 5 different versions, unless each one had tried to make sense of the book from the popular critics review....
Reviews on books
- Thread starter chhillar
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shailendra
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Yeah.....alcohol, smoking.......alchemist.........and of course.....herd mentality, fitting in!!!!
...Sounds uncomfortably (and unfortunately) more like an indication on how and where exactly you may have personally been bracketing your own (more cerebral) 'reading' pleasures!
You are right, I move in different literary circle than yours.......
...Sounds uncomfortably (and unfortunately) more like an indication on how and where exactly you may have personally been bracketing your own (more cerebral) 'reading' pleasures!
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shailendra
New member
Oh, I don't doubt that about the "5 different versions", at all!... but then isn't that what the author trying... and we the readers, celebrating in such 'allegorical' kind of books anyways? (find joys in your own minute interpretations?)...
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ps. Now you may be well advised to take a separate poll on the same 5 people about how many of them really make sense out of a book (provided they had read it first) based on what the popular critics reviews have had to say.................................and you may have a different sort of very 'magically enlightening' answer there!!!...(and may well change how you look at your literary circles and books from thereon!)
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Ouch!!!!! ....Unwittingly, I stepped on your toes, my apologies.......
Naah!!! I am no seeker of ultimate wisdom/ enlightenment in the muddy waters...prefer more black or white stuff....clear and defined, without "interpret as you like"......
Naah!!! I am no seeker of ultimate wisdom/ enlightenment in the muddy waters...prefer more black or white stuff....clear and defined, without "interpret as you like"......
shailendra
New member
You are right, I move in different literary circle than yours.......
...Oh of course!!! You kidding me?...you had me completely convinced at the 'herd mentality' stage....
shailendra
New member
Ouch!!!!! ....Unwittingly, I stepped on your toes, my apologies.......
Naah!!! I am no seeker of ultimate wisdom/ enlightenment in the muddy waters...prefer more black or white stuff....clear and defined, without "interpret as you like"......
... But I thought I completely agreed with you on the "5 people poll"!... My toes? (Naah, you identified me wrong....I am no Paulo Coelho!)...Well, lets agree to disagree then that any 'great' book(s) may or may not be viewed by its readers in the same interpretations/level of understandings/"magical quotient"
... and kinda on the lines of the now famous quote about 'not to judge a new book just by its cover'; let's not be quick to condemn a decidedly popular one either just based on some reading 'moods' and preferences! jakharanil
New member
Freakonomics was decent. I liked most the linkage between legalization of abortion and dropping of crime rates a couple of decades later. But I found some other analysis on the ordinary side. Haven't read the sequel. But read a Paul Krugman piece where he got all worked up about the global cooling conclusion that the book arrived at. I think that has generated a very heated debate- not much of a climate person, so didn't really follow.
You mean you are not an "Alchemist" fan???
Agreed to disagree, except-
1) Not any "great" book(s)...but books like "The Alchemist"...
2) A decidedly popular book does not need a cover to sell any more...a new one may need an appropriate cover....
3) Preferences-yes, but not the moods...A good mood does not make a poor book appear great, or vice versa....
BTW, I have come across people who buy books for their cover or the author to display on their shelves, for the sake of appearances.
Agreed to disagree, except-
1) Not any "great" book(s)...but books like "The Alchemist"...
2) A decidedly popular book does not need a cover to sell any more...a new one may need an appropriate cover....
3) Preferences-yes, but not the moods...A good mood does not make a poor book appear great, or vice versa....
BTW, I have come across people who buy books for their cover or the author to display on their shelves, for the sake of appearances.
Well, lets agree to disagree then that any 'great' book(s) may or may not be viewed by its readers in the same interpretations/level of understandings/"magical quotient"
shailendra
New member
You mean you are not an "Alchemist" fan???
Agreed to disagree, except-
1) Not any "great" book(s)...but books like "The Alchemist"...
2) A decidedly popular book does not need a cover to sell any more...a new one may need an appropriate cover....
3) Preferences-yes, but not the moods...A good mood does not make a poor book appear great, or vice versa....
BTW, I have come across people who buy books for their cover or the author to display on their shelves, for the sake of appearances.
I LOVE that book! …and have a personal copy on my bookshelf, not just for appearances either
(just didn’t want to necessarily sound biased right off about ‘one’ particular book when getting into the discussion earlier; it was simply the notion or the false premise about ‘famous’ books and ‘bhaed-chaal’ that I personally had a problem with…)"The Alchemist" is a poetic/allegorical novel that must have probably single-handedly launched a thousand other inspirational sort of literature in the quite successful way it inspires a person to follow his/her calling….
I personally subscribe to its most famous adage which goes something like, “When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” [Yup, it was not really Farah or the hamming ShahRukh Khan in “Om Shanti Om” that FIRST came up with that crap that went something like, “…to saari Kaynaat….etc.”]…
That quote…simply put, was inspirational (without being prescriptive!) and you know, continues to very much be…. about not only dreaming about something you feel strongly about, but being SO utterly passionate enough to then (easily, naturally) be able to live-out and make happen (realize) those very dreams…
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A quick Movie Trivia: A couple of years ago, 2008; Producer Harvey Weinstein (of the “Gangs of New York”, and “Shakespeare in Love”, fame) had announced that he has bought the rights to the film (from the author of the novel Paulo Coelho) and that the actor/director Laurence Fishburne is set to not only direct, but also play the original character of the young Andalusian shepherd in the movie… (so who knows, maybe the movie would help…)
sidchhikara
New member
Yeah .. both books are quite entertaining .. some masala .. but supported by numbers.
I recently read Memory Remains: Journey Of An Indian To The US & Back by Prashant Karhade, an IITian. The book narrates the story of a boy who was an IIT aspirant. He gets into IIT, goes to US for higher studies and then works in topmost MNC. Finally, he decides to return to India with the dream of starting his own software firm. Though it's a fiction but looks more like his own story. As the market is flooded with books from IITians now a days, this one is a nice read.
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Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic by Osho, recently read this book and I must add, it totally changed my outlook towards life n' spirituality. The book also gives you insight of Osho's life and thinking and his emphasis on Dynamic Meditation. If you want to discover yourself and feel the nirvana, this book will surely help you in awakening.
This autobiography was weaved together from many talks given by Osho over a long period of time. The 30+ year span enabled something too rare in Autobiography, which is the summary of life from one temporal vantage point. Osho was such a talented speaker, critical thinker, social scientiest and had such a sharp wit that this book ranks highest among the many autobiographies I have read . More important, Osho's insistence on meditation as a path to integrate cultures, science and religion, and fuse the arts led to a universal vision that might, if we try and practice it, save humanity from itself.
Highly recommended!
Cheers
Jit
Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic by Osho, recently read this book and I must add, it totally changed my outlook towards life n' spirituality. The book also gives you insight of Osho's life and thinking and his emphasis on Dynamic Meditation. If you want to discover yourself and feel the nirvana, this book will surely help you in awakening.
This autobiography was weaved together from many talks given by Osho over a long period of time. The 30+ year span enabled something too rare in Autobiography, which is the summary of life from one temporal vantage point. Osho was such a talented speaker, critical thinker, social scientiest and had such a sharp wit that this book ranks highest among the many autobiographies I have read . More important, Osho's insistence on meditation as a path to integrate cultures, science and religion, and fuse the arts led to a universal vision that might, if we try and practice it, save humanity from itself.
Highly recommended!
Cheers
Jit
sweetykaur
New member
i like the Paulo Coelho 11 minutes. he really has guts to go so much in depth
one has to read this novel with a very clear mind, that is, if one wants to enjoy the literature value of it. Otherwise you will feel it is another one of the well written sex-flicks.
drrajpalsingh
New member
Friend,
You are right. Not only for enjoying this particular book but also for any literary creation one has to reach it without prejudice.
Read Ghost Wars of CIA by Steve Coll. The perfidy of Pakistanis and sheer guts of Ahmad Shah Massoud are so well collated. A movie Good Shepard starring Matt Damon is all about Counter Intel setup of OSS the predecessor of CIA. Damn, some people just gave everything for their country. The movie and the book gives you insight into the Shadowy world of spying, mistakes made by some idiot sitting behind a desk thousands of miles away.